Genetically-modified salmon okay for food

US regulators on Thursday approved a type of genetically modified salmon, saying it is safe to eat and making it the first transgenic animal destined for American dinner tables.

The Food and Drug Administration's decision came after years of controversy over the fish, which is a type of new Atlantic salmon injected with a gene from Pacific Chinook salmon to make it grow faster.

The fish, called AquAdvantage Salmon, is made by AquaBounty Technologies in Massachusetts.

The FDA "has determined that they have met the regulatory requirements for approval, including that food from the fish is safe to eat," said Bernadette Dunham, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine.

Regulators "determined that food from AquAdvantage Salmon is as safe to eat and as nutritious as food from other non-GE Atlantic salmon and that there are no biologically relevant differences in the nutritional profile of AquAdvantage Salmon compared to that of other farm-raised Atlantic salmon," the FDA said.                      

AquAdvantage Salmon may be raised only in land-based, contained hatchery tanks in two specific facilities in Canada and Panama, it added.

"The approval does not allow AquAdvantage Salmon to be bred or raised in the United States."

 

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